Valencia-based Lundgren Management joined Antelope Valley educators and Palmdale School District officials on Aug. 6 for the grand opening of the David G. Millen Intermediate School, less than two years after its groundbreaking and on time for the new school year. The school opened to students on Aug. 10. Lundgren served as the construction manager for the project, which was delivered utilizing the Construction Management Multiple-Prime delivery method.

Hundreds of educators, school officials, parents and students turned out for the Aug. 6 grand opening of the David G. Millen Intermediate School in Palmdale, less than two years after the groundbreaking for the $32 million project.

The grand opening ceremony drew a crowd of hundreds, including both education officials and district parents and students. With more than 40 classrooms, the school serves seventh- and eighth-grade students and is a California STEM school, focusing on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The school is built to accommodate up to 1,100 students, and roughly 900 are enrolled for the 2015/16 school year.

Located at 39221 22nd Street West in Palmdale, the $32 million school project was made possible by funds from 2012’s voter-approved Measure DD. The school is named for the late David G. Millen, who worked for the Palmdale School District for 29 years and served as principal for several district schools. Officials broke ground on the project in fall 2013, and the school was designed by NTD Architects.

“There is a right way and a wrong way to manage projects utilizing the CM Multiple-Prime method, and we happen to do this very well,” said Shawn Fonder, Lundgren Management’s vice president of program and client services. “That being said, in the end, it isn’t the delivery method that makes a project successful, it is the team that you select to deliver your project.”

Speakers for the Aug. 6 grand opening of the David G. Millen Intermediate School included Sharon Millen, wife of the late Palmdale School District educator for whom the school is named.

Covering 96,000-square-feet on 16 acres, the school is designed with its facilities surrounding a central courtyard and multi-purpose space, providing a safe and secure environment for students. The school includes standard, science, music and home economics classrooms, an art lab, computer lab, special education classrooms with flexibility for large group and individual instruction, a library and media center, a gymnasium and physical education center, locker rooms, a multi-purpose room/cafeteria and administrative offices.

Fonder said the school’s construction was also a case study in how Lundgren embraces leading technology to ensure projects are completed with transparency and efficiency. Using the services of Multivista, the District staged numerous cameras at the project site, capturing ongoing images of the project site. The resulting visual document serves to both provide the client with regular updates of construction progress, and the photos are added to the project’s architectural plans to create an even further detailed plan that proves invaluable for future maintenance or reference needs.

“Embracing and incorporating leading technology is just one way that Lundgren ensures we deliver excellence on all our projects,” Fonder said. “We’ve always been committed to going above and beyond; the technology just enhances and adds to the total package.”